"You're not listening!"

It's fair time. And that means that I have minimal time between fairs to do a blog. But I did want to put this on......since it shows that even when we humans know better, we still push our critters too far.

Jill is a mare with a past......a bad one. She has PTSD and is either bi-polar or has a severe case of Jeckel/Hyde. I "pet psychic" once said she prefers to be called "Jillian" because it is more elegant than just "Jill". While I laugh about it, I also have to admit that when I first saw her I saw an elegant, classic Percheron filly......not the terror that lives beneath. And the funny thing is, when she is being stupid, I'll say, "You're being a Jill" and she actually does calm down and get better. So who knows.

Jill was trained in an unusual way. She would not cooperate with being teamed up with another horse.....was not quiet in a cart......so she was ridden first. After several days, she was put in the cart and tolerated it. But she never would stand to be hitched to another horse. For several years she was just a cart horse, and she did ok. Then we lost our awesome mare in foaling and she began to pal around with our big gelding Bill. One day last year we hooked them together and, although she was not happy with him cuz he was sandbagging that day (usually Bill is our Rock and rarely sandbags) she put up with it. So the now 18+hh mare became his partner.

This year an extremely capable man wanted to use Jill and Bill as the wheel team (closest to the wagon) and put our newer awesome mare out front in the Unicorn position. We also have a 2yo we were using in a 4-horse hitch. The first time they hitched, Jill was perfect, while the two in the front tried to figure out just what it was they were supposed to be doing. The second time, (two weeks later) Jill Hyde reared her ugly head.

Jill had been switching her tail the entire time (even when just teamed with Bill), and we KNEW that she was absolutely agitated.....and that usually meant a blow-out. But we pushed her on with the 4 and then the unicorn. We had just taken Star out of the unicorn position when Jill's eyes started "spinning" (a term I use when they lose focus and begin to panic) and sudden off she went.....bucking, rearing, kicking. I got Star out of the way, so the guys could handle the team, but she was not listening. When Jill gets this way, someone needs to get right in her face and let her know that the human is in control and it will be okay. Until she can make eye contact, she goes right into panic mode and there's no stopping it. She kicked, she jumped, she sat on the wagon pole, got her feet over it, panicked more. Eventually she broke the 4x4 pole (it was between her legs) and managed to get all twisted up in the harness, facing the wagon, while Bill was still facing away from the wagon. What a mess.

Poor Bill. He is SOOOOOO good. As Jill is doing her thing, he just steps aside.....oh, you're coming here? ok, I'll just take another step.....ok, another step......just getting out of the way, but not participating in all the ruckus.

We knew she was pissy and we pushed her too far. Had I been able to get in her face right away, it may not have happened.....but it did.

However, since she is as big as she is, this is not the way to end a session......so she was hooked to the cart to be worked a bit more before being finished. Of course, she LOVES the cart....so it was not a punishment......even the guy driving her was laughing, saying "she obviously doesn't think THIS is punishment!" Her other bug is standing still for any length of time, so he made her stand, instead.

The long and short of it is.....she did fine at the fairs we've been to so far. Our biggest fair is to come, and we shall see how it turns out.

But the important part is......we didn't listen.....we pushed. And while pushing is often necessary, there is a fine line......and we crossed it. We humans have a time schedule, which causes us to push issues; the horse has only one issue.....how do I feel? We ignore that at our own peril.